Fans of the Half-Life game series have long been grasping at straws for any news about a potential Half-Life 3 release date, even over two decades after the launch of its would-be predecessor. Although there have been leaks and rumors about Half-Life 3 here and there throughout the years, none of those have yet panned out. The latest claim was that Half-Life 3 would be announced alongside the upcoming Valve Steam Machine, but that announcement has since come and gone without a peep, leading to speculation that the third installation in the game series would instead launch alongside the Steam Machine when the living-room gaming PC actually launches commercially in early 2026. Now, Mike Straw, a game journalist with a reputation for reporting on leaks from insider sources, has claimed in a recent appearance on the Insider Gaming Weekly podcast on YouTube that “everybody I’ve talked to are still adamant that this is a game that will be a launch title with the Steam Machine.”
He also mentions that there are concerns that Valve has not finalized the price of the Steam Machine, largely due to the volatility and sky-high prices of DRAM. His comments also suggest that Valve has been feeding false launch dates—all of which have since passed with no announcements from Valve—to a number of games journalists to determine leak sources and potentially even obfuscate the actual launch date of Half-Life 3. Valve has not committed to a specific launch date for the Steam Machine, nor has it given any indication of pricing other than that it will launch in “early 2026,” indicating Q1, and that it will be priced more in line with a similar DIY gaming PC.
Watch the segment of the podcast episode below: